The Eurasian Jay is a small (33 cm) member
of the crow family. Its breast, back, scapulars and lesser coverts are
grayish brown, its head a brighter pinkish brown. It bears a conspicuous,
broad black moustache mark extending from the base of the bill. The primary
flight feathers and tail are black, while the outer secondaries and greater
and median wing coverts are black with bright blue bars, the blue showing
as a patch on the folded wing. The lower belly and rump are white. The
Taiwan subspecies taivanus is smaller and smaller-billed than the
mainland Chinese subspecies, and has black nasal tufts and fine streaking
immediately above the tufts. It is whiter on the lower belly and grayer on
the scapulars.

The Eurasian Jay is a noisy bird of
deciduous woodlands and forests which often gathers in small groups to mob
raptors. It feeds on fruits, acorns, birds’ eggs and carrion. It is a
common year-round resident in the mountain regions of central Taiwan.

References: A Field
Guide to the Birds of China (Mackinnon and Phillipps); N. J. Collar, “Endemic
subspecies of Taiwan birds—first impressions”, in Birding ASIA, Number 2,
December 2004